Keeping It Legal

The always evolving realm of social media provides opportunity for growth and advancement. It is also important to stay on top of to the latest developments. In order to use this tool effectively, make sure you’re aware of the legal issues surrounding social media. Even the smallest promotions and contests on Facebook or Twitter are subject to regulations. Learn more about keeping your company out of trouble if you’re thinking of running an online contest.

Blogging Like a Pro

Want to grow your blog like a Fortune 500? There is a strategic way to accomplish that goal. Some of the steps include reflecting on your previous quarter and checking who is reading your blog. These steps, while basic, provide a great insight into how you can attract more readers and increase participation. What tactics have you used to grow your blog?

Social Media Management Tips

If you offer social media services to multiple clients, managing all of the accounts takes preparation. There are a few tips that can help keep your social workflow under control. Remember to delegate tasks from the start of a project, this will help identify problems quickly and avoid confusion. Organizing an editorial schedule and other account details in one location can also help keep the entire team on the same page. Management tools like Pulse, HootSuite and Tweetdeck can ensure your team doesn’t miss anything.  If you need help managing your company’s social media accounts, contact us for a list of services.

Baseball and Social Media: A Great Combo

The St. Louis Cardinals take on the Cubs this weekend in Chicago, but don’t forget about Social Media Night at Busch Stadium next week. Attendees get access to specials and the chance to network with other social media professionals in the area. Will you be there?

Teachers and Students Can’t be ‘Friends’

Recent legislation in Missouri will make it a crime to be Facebook friends with teachers. Beginning on August 28, any contact through social networks like Facebook and Twitter will be prohibited between students and teachers. This Senate bill is meant to deter misconduct and to more clearly define teacher-student boundaries.  Teachers will still be able to create Facebook pages for their classrooms, as long as they do not have direct contact with their students via social media. If you or your company need help establishing a social media policy to help prevent misconduct, check out TVG’s social media services.

Save Money on School Supplies with Social Media

Popular retailers like Target and Sears are using social media to share shopping tips and deals with their customers, demonstrating how social media is a win-win for customers and companies alike. Customers can make electronic shopping lists with their favorite stores and receive 40 percent off of items that they ‘like’.  Companies can drive engagement and sales without expensive TV ads. How do you plan to use social media during your back-to-school shopping this year?

Smartphones for smarter classrooms

Teachers are finding ways to use technology to foster learning and student participation.  Handheld devices called ‘clickers’ enable teachers to administer quizzes and ask for feedback in real time. Clickers are helpful teaching tools, but expensive. Companies around the country are now creating apps that allow students to use their cell phones or laptops to engage in classroom discussion instead of ‘clickers.’  Here at TVG we are using iPads to conduct research and work more easily with clients. How have you seen teachers or coworkers use social media and other technology to their advantage?

The Community Connections Program is designed to promote public diplomacy through exchanges of cultural ideas and values and create a positive exchange of ideas and business approaches between professionals in Russia and the U.S. The discussion centered on PR agencies and how they are run in the U.S., specifically how they work with non-profit clients to develop campaigns. There were 12 delegates from the Russian city of Novosibirsk in attendance, along with a translator to help facilitate the conversation.

Here are a few photos from the visit. For information about TVG’s non-profit work, click here.

TVG staff members and the Russian delegates

A few of the delegates

Donna discussing PR with the delegates in TVG's conference room

A gift from the delegates' hometown of Novosibirsk

1. New Facebook Profile

Facebook announced last Sunday via Twitter the “New Profile.” Besides rearranging where you see profile information, FB has added a feature that lets you include projects you’re working on under the Employer category, and has brought back a feature from the old days of the social network where you can list the classes you’re in, or have taken in school. To opt-in (for the time being), you can go here and get the new profile. Let us know what you think!

2. Google eBooks

Google launched its foray into the e-book world with Google eBooks. Although there are already e-book providers with e-readers, such as Amazon and its Kindle or Barnes&Noble with their Nook, Google is attempting to set itself apart by offering a large number of free e-books. Google’s e-books are also accessible anywhere there’s an internet connection. Some think this may be a viable opportunity for schools and universities to delve into the e-book world. Will you try Google eBooks?

3. Economy of Advertising

It seems that advertising is on the same road as the overall economy; it’s predicted that advertising spending in the U.S. will have a long and slow rebound. Although there will be some growth in the U.S., it’s predicted that China and India will show outstanding growth in ad spending. How do you think our country’s ad agencies will react?

4. WikiLeaks and Anonymous

Mastercard, Visa, Amazon.com and PayPal have all found themselves under attack by a group of hackers called Anonymous in Operation: Payback. Why these companies? They have all denied service to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange. The hackers have been moderately successful in disrupting service, and completely shut down Mastercard’s website earlier this week. Even though people’s bank accounts were not compromised, this may show how easy it is for hackers to infiltrate sites that contain personal information. How do you feel about how safe your information is?

5. Taking on Social Media

An article in Ad Age this week predicts that 80 percent of companies with more than 100 employees will use social media for marketing during 2011. Many companies are proactively incorporating social media into their culture, but it’s not always easy and sometimes you need a little extra help. This past week, TVG kicked off a year-long social media training course to help our client and their employees understand the best ways to use Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. If you’re interested in social media training for your company, just send us a message on our website or find us on Twitter @VandiverGroup!

In twenty-first century marketing, there is a new rulebook. Rule Number One: Your best marketers are always your satisfied customers. In conversations with friends, family, peers, people they interact with online, and even those who follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and the myriad of other social media sites, your customers are talking about your projects.  Your potential customers are searching for advice on branding, marketing, public relations and social media. TVG became a charter member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) because we wanted to be sure we were adhering to the ethical use of the tools available to us, and because TVG has been using social media for about eight years.

WOMMA members use social media as a tool to get the conversation started, to form and engage communities, and to drive awareness and sales.  What better way than through the positive experiences of your customers?

Which brings me to Rule Number Two: The dark side. If done improperly, word-of-mouth can be counterproductive, even disastrous. In the latter case, this usually happens because the marketing or digital firm tried something unethical or deceptive.

Ethics–always important, no matter what you are doing.

If you are unsure about what’s ok in social media, WOMMA is devising guidelines for marketing practices, and is surveying the field for help in developing the answers.

The Member Ethics Advisory Panel (MEAP) of WOMMA, is currently looking for comments on two questions as part of their Annual Ethics Code Review:

1. Contests – how and when should disclosure occur in social media contests? For example, does a “material connection” exist between a brand and a blogger who enters a contest and writes about his or her contest entry?
2. Data scraping – The practice of using technology to “scrape” employee data, social media profile information, and in some cases discussions within private social networks, exists. Issues of privacy and respect for rules of venue may be raised by this practice. What do you think?

You can post your responses to: www.womma.org/ethicsreview/2010/11/01/members-ethics-advisory-panel-meap-posts-ethical-questions-for-response.

We in the industry need to demonstrate that ethics in our practice is something we take very seriously.  We realize our reputations, and the reputations of our clients, require ethical, open communication.

If you miss this lesson, you will experience Rule Number Three: clients and competitors will take advantage of the fact that you didn’t follow Rule Number Two.

1. Sanford-Brown and First-Ever “Give Back Day”

Sanford-Brown College, a TVG client, participated in a nationwide “Give Back Day” this week. Coinciding with National Medical Assistant Recognition Day, students from all of Sanford-Brown’s campuses helped with various activities, including health screenings, blood drives, massage therapy and volunteering at local health facilities. Visit Sanford-Brown’s website to learn more about them.

2. Soy Symposium

The 9th International Symposium on the Role of Soy was this past week. The program consisted of presentations in areas such as new research fields, women’s health, soy farming and cardiovascular topics. You can read about some highlights of the symposium here. For more information on soy in general, visit the United Soybean Board’s website.

3. Washington Post and Twitter

After a controversial article from the Washington post came under fire this week from activist group GLAAD, one staffer used the Post’s Twitter account to defend publishing the piece.  As a result of increased negative feedback to this tweet, the Post has asked its journalists not to engage with critics on Twitter. Is this the right move for a news outlet?

4. Donna Vandiver Speaks at VCC Conference

TVG’s fearless leader Donna Vandiver traveled to Louisiana this week to speak at the 2010 Fall Various Chemical Companies Conference. Speakers at the conference were asked to address a wide array of issues affecting chemical companies. Donna talked to the group about maintaining employee engagement during tough economic times. Check out all of TVG’s employee communication services on our website.

5. Starbucks Digital Network

Starbucks rolled out its Starbucks Digital Network (SDN) this week to users of their in-store Wi-Fi services. Café dwellers can take advantage of exclusive content, ranging from full access to the Wall Street Journal to free online movies. How can marketers and advertisers use this network and others like it to their best advantage?

“The world of communications is changing.  Social media is growing by leaps and bounds and it is important that your company stay in the game. But in order to play the game, it is important that you know the rules.

Research firm Forrester estimated that more than $700 million would be spent on social media marketing in 2009, and more than $3 billion will be spent in 2014. With advertising dollars and the amount of users increasing in the social media realm, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revised the Guidelines Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (Guides) in December 2009. The Guides focus on protecting consumers from deceptive endorsements and testimonials and the FTC has now included guidelines for businesses using the Internet and social media spaces.”

To read more on the new guidelines click here for the rest of Donna’s article.

This article first appeared in Vol. 11, No. 3 of Enterprising Women magazine (www.enterprisingwomen.com) and is being reprinted with permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

Change in how we communicate is certainly a constant in our life today. How are you and your organization adapting to that change? Are you taking advantage of the ways to more efficiently communicate with your employees or with your customers?

The Vandiver Group has utilized the evolving social media technologies to enable change in the way we communicate as employees and as company representatives. TVG’s Pulse program and proprietary software creates an online, social space for more efficient and engaging conversations. Learn more about the Pulse program from our online Pulse booklet.

Pulse for Focus Groups
Instead of taking weeks or months to set up a focus group, Pulse efficiently brings together an online group, facilitates conversation, identifies key trends and builds summary reports. Pulse can gather valuable information from global audiences at the same time.

Pulse for Public Engagement
Managing public comments and responses is tedious. Pulse streamlines the process by taking large quantities of data and creating charts and graphs that capture public comment results.

Pulse for Brainstorming
Instead of scheduling multiple meetings and conference calls, Pulse uses an online platform to facilitate communication and collaboration. Employees in the same office or a network of offices can share ideas and opinions 24/7.

Pulse for Employee Engagement
Pulse engages employees in a two-way conversation to identify hot topics within an organization. Conversations allow employees to become more connect to the organization and builds the employee brand.

The answer is not so simple. There are hundreds of different sites online dedicated solely to searching social media content, and each has different strengths and weaknesses. Here are some of the sites and tactics TVG considers to be most efficient and comprehensive.

Blogs and Blog posts:

Google Blog Search- Starting with the most recognized and utilized search tool.  The main benefit of the Google Blog search is its ease of use since most are use to the interface.  Also helpful is the home page of the search that provides a listing of the most popular topics blogged about that day.

Technorati- The recognized leader in all things Blog.  Technorati is much more than a search engine- it is blogger central, so I encourage everyone who is not familiar with the site to explore Technorati and its many features.  The key to Technorati is its “authority” ranking which is determined predominantly by the number of blogs that link to your blog.  Every blog has a ranking based on their authority, starting with #1 as the most “popular” blog on the web.  The site’s Top 100 blog listing is very useful in identifying the most influential bloggers and conversations.  If you are just interested in performing a blog search, http://s.technorati.com is an easier site than starting on the main page.

Ice Rocket- Monitoring trends in blog conversations.  Ice Rocket is another source for comprehensive blog searches.  A unique feature of this site that TVG likes to use is the Trends Monitoring feature.  This search allows you to track the percentage of blogs mentioning a keyword or phrase (such as your company’s name).  You can compare up to 3 keywords to see how your company is doing compared to a competitor.  The results include a graph, which quickly demonstrates how popular your topic is in the blogosphere or how major events may have impacted your traffic (shown in spikes in the graph).

There are countless other sites out there to search blog posts, including the popular Digg.com.  But moving on to other social media sites you may want to research.  TVG recently discovered some new sites included in the list below in a great PRSA webinar presentation from Josh Hallett of Voce Communications.

Board Tracker- This is a unique site which searches discussion board conversations.  Instead of just locating your company on blog posts, you can now review public discussion boards or forums that are discussing your company or topic of interest.

Everyzing- A site for searching podcasts and online videos or audio files, such as those on YouTube.  Google, Technorati and other search engines do search tags of YouTube videos, but this site is dedicated exclusively to video and audio, therefore more comprehnsive.

Twitter Search- The leading search engine for microblogging site Twitter, Summize.com was recently acquired by Twitter and now can be utilized at search.Twitter.com.  Other utilized Twitter searches- TwitterTroll, TweetScan and a Google search created by MicroPersuasion blogger, Steve Rubel.

Social Mention- a site that searches all social media applications- including Twitter, Blogs, Flickr, YouTube, news sites and more.  This is a great site if you are looking for quick results covering the most popular applciations instead of the most comprehnsive results.

Radian6- A paid for service that provides comprehensive monitoring and analysis solutions.  Although most search engines are free of charge, for those clients and brands that are continuously discussed online, this is an excellent investment that will save you time and worries.

On a closing note- new search engines and social media tools are being created everyday.  The possibilities are endless, so find the tools that you find most useful for your goals and hopefully this overview gives you a few places to start.

Many people are familiar with YouTube as it appears in random sharing of bloopers caught on home video or television mishaps. But there are many other uses for the site–from viral marketing, contests, education and much more.

First the Facts:
· 200M+ Worldwide unique monthly visitors, 68M+ US Unique Visitors
· Sixth largest site in the US, ahead of Wikipedia, eBay and Amazon
· Hundreds of millions of videos viewed daily
· Hundreds of thousands of videos uploaded daily
· 56% 18- to 34-year-olds are registered, 47% overall
· 51% go to YouTube weekly or more often
· 50% watch all of the videos to the end
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings, US only, March 2008.

YouTube is, by far the most popular video sharing Web site online. Visitors use the site to upload and share videos. They share videos they’ve created themselves or clips that they’ve found on TV or the web. YouTube videos can also be shared through blogs, e-mails and other sites.

How can this concentration of active customers be utilized by your company or client?

Create a Brand Channel
A YouTube channel page serves as a profile page for a YouTube user. On your channel page, other YouTube users can see your public videos, favorite videos, bulletins and subscribers. Your channel page also displays several links that let other people connect with you (or your brand) by sending you a message, sharing your channel with friends or adding comments to your channel.

Some of our favorite brand channels-
Associated Press
EA Sports
HR Block

Create a YouTube Contest
The user-generated nature of YouTube is a great platform to hold a contest as part of a marketing campaign for your newest service or product. A contest promotes a high-level of engagement and meaningful interaction- from having fans share their favorite things about your brand to having them film your next television commercial.

Here are some of my favorites that are just wrapping up-
Everyone has a Natures Valley…Where’s Yours?
Tide to Go Instant Stain

Viral Video Production
The most common use of YouTube by organizations is to distribute viral videos as stand-alone promotional pieces.

Some famous viral videos include Gatorade’s Ball Girl video, Ok Go’s music video and Reebok’s Extended Terry Tate commercial.

When creating a viral video, companies often do not include their name in the production, creating the appearance that it was accidentally captured and uploaded by a general user.

If your company creates a viral video it is essential to remember the social media rules of authenticity and transparency — you should not hide that your company has created the video.

One last aspect of YouTube to remember is HAVE FUN. Visitors come to the site and send e-mails to friends for entertainment value. There is room to be informative but you also must be unique, innovative and entertaining.